North West leads on construction contract value awarded

The north west of England topped the regions for contract awards value in June with a 36.6 per cent share of the total contract value, according to Barbour ABI statistics.

The value of all construction contract awards in June 2019 was £5.2 billion based on a three-month rolling average. This is an increase of 5.5 per cent compared to May.

The industry analysts’ latest Economic & Construction Market Review also finds that the infrastructure sector accounted for 37.2 per cent of the £5.2 billion, with a big contribution from the SPRS Construction Programme at the Sellafield site. This is valued at £1.5 billion, boosting the North West’s project share.

London topped two sectors* in June: residential had a 26.2 per cent of the share, and commercial and retail had a 23.7 per cent share of total contract awards for the capital.

Overall, there was a more even spread of contract awards across the whole of the UK:

Scotland – 5.9 per cent

North East – 4.5 per cent

North West – 36.3 per cent

Yorkshire & Humber – 6 per cent

West Midlands – 4.2 per cent

East Midlands – 5.6 per cent

East of England – 4.9 per cent

London – 13.7 per cent

South East – 10.2 per cent

South West – 6.3 per cent

Wales – 6.3 per cent

Tom Hall, chief economist at Barbour ABI, said: “London has dominated project awards every month in 2019. However, for the first time this year we see a shift in the spread of project awards across the country. Likewise, for the first time this year, we see infrastructure investment overtake the residential sector, which has been the most active sector of construction for over six months.”